This post was inspired by a new connection - @PaulGenge.
Many business professionals have expressed a need for an ongoing model for learning. Due to the pace of change, we often contemplate how we are going to keep up, get ahead and remain competitive.
I have been watching, reading, observing and talking to people over the last few years about the changes taking place in universities and K-12. They seem to be on a parallel path, working to develop their curriculums, responding to their students' evolving need for a more personalized approach, while striving to transform the overall model in order to prepare them (and us) for the future.
In addition to my overall interest in education, the goal has been to explore the concepts further to gain a deeper understanding of the potential impact and explore some of the resources available. Ultimately, this is to encourage and develop talent even further within the workplace as our business models change, become more decentralized and as we ourselves continue to innovate for our organizations and clients.
This is a priority for many companies, individuals and people in management positions. It is critical for growth, key to retaining top talent and keeping our multigenerational workforce engaged.
The Changing Face of Learning and Professional Development
In watching Khan Academy develop their idea for “the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education to anyone anywhere,” it is clear that they have inspired movement. Udacity, MIT, EdX (a Harvard and MIT joint venture), Coursera and Ted Ed are just some of the additional organizations that have free interactive online educational offerings.
After watching Sebastian Thrun on Charlie Rose and TechCrunch (see below), I had to check it out.
I recently signed up for Udacity’s course on building a search engine and I am just completing Unit 1 (realizing strings can be tricky!). There are so many possibilities, reasons and ways to incorporate these types of courses into some organizations, while including interested members from cross-functional teams.
This experience has certainly inspired further exploratory. Based on all of the developments in the marketing and advertising industry and my personal interest in sentiment analysis and AI, I have been considering Stanford’s Natural Language Processing course as well. We’ll see…one thing at a time. The thought is, if they are teaching this in college, then even more progress will be here soon enough, impacting the marketplace along with our product development and marketing efforts.
My interest isn’t so much in becoming a master programmer, but toward staying fresh and understanding the core concepts and principles that could inspire new ideas and thinking.
Business and “Learning 2.0”
The changes taking place with open courseware, as touched upon above, are just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to research, there is a deeper movement at the heart of the education system to reimagine the overall model starting at a much younger age. This is to provide a more personalized, holistic and balanced approach to education and bring it into the 21st century. The efforts here are to help kids explore their unique talents and interests, along with making sure they develop the necessary skill sets that will allow them to adapt in this world full of complexity.
“The places that are globally competitive are those that have robust local ecosystems of resources supporting innovation and productiveness.2 A key part of any such ecosystem is a well-educated workforce with the requisite competitive skills.”
“As we move from career to career, much of what we will need to know will not be what we learned in school decades earlier. We are entering a world in which we all will have to acquire new knowledge and skills on an almost continuous basis.”
With the current student loan debt, costs of education, dropout rates, and our challenging job market, I can't help but think about the impact this will all have on our future leaders. There is a significant shift taking place. It certainly has me thinking about how our organizations can respond and adapt as we move forward.
As more of the changes proposed by forward thinking educators do take place, our workforce will change forever. And, as we consider incorporating some of this thinking into our own model for learning and make adjustments to our management practices, just imagine the innovations to come.
This morning I exchanged emails with a friend who told me that he just connected his 10 year old digital camera to a new laptop. Once connected, the computer prompted him to enter names of the various people who were in those pictures. Hmm.
Then, after reading even more on google glasses, facial recognition software, Facebook's 900 million users and thinking more about behavioral analytics while revisiting certain thoughts on the implications of certain drivers of change, three pieces of content really stood out that I wanted to share,
1) Read This: Meet the Urban Datasexual
2) Then This: Tracking Everything, Placeme is the Smartphone Assistant of the Future
After some additional conversations with some colleagues and exploring a more recent news article on a biometrics study, it makes we wonder how far away (or close to) David 8 we really are…
3) Take a look at this Prometheus Movie Promo:
Twirl that all around in your head and get lost in it for awhile.
So many questions, emotions and different points of view come up for me as well as for all of you, I am sure. There are incredible opportunities and brilliant innovations being developed as a product of this evolution. On the other side, I do understand and think about the concerns and the adverse implications that people are discussing out there.
Are you "freaked out" or excited about some of the possibilities?
Time to disconnect for a little while...need to go for a run to get outside...of my head for a bit.
While reading The Opposable Mind from my last post, it got me to thinking about the time, space, imagination and deep thinking required to innovate and develop solutions to the challenges presented to us on a continuous basis.
We all seem to be so pressed for time and filtering through a barrage of information. Taking time to actually read a full book and ponder its pages or allow ourselves more than a moment for creative exploratory, hands-on application or self-reflection can feel like an indulgence.
Not surprisingly, this is partly due to our relationship with time, space and our use of technology. The changes taking place in the world are new to us and we are feeling the rapid growth of our progress as we work to adapt. Some people who I have spoken with have expressed a concern that we are moving backwards and "losing our minds" and creative capacities.
I’d hate to think that that we have no choice and are being pulled into some sort of abyss in shackles. We are human beings who have the ability to think for ourselves, evolve and make some personal adjustments where needed. Now seems like the perfect time to assess our situation and make some course corrections if we feel it is necessary.
Richard Watson writes about this in,
Future Minds: How the Digital Age is Changing Our Minds, Why It Matters and What We Can Do About It
Divided into three sections, Watson writes about some tough challenges presented by our new screen culture and provides some staggering numbers showing its growth. He provokes us to think about the importance of deep thinking and the impact it has on our minds and creativity. The book includes chapters like “Thinking About Thinking,” “The Sex Life of Ideas” and “Thinking Spaces” just to name a few. He ends each chapter with ways to open our minds and foster an environment to stimulate thought and creativity. Here's a quick snapshot, take a look -
I must say that with that, the digital age affords us some really great opportunities to learn, explore and collaborate with a community of people who we wouldn't have had access to in the past. This is why I am an advocate for blended learning environments. In the video below, John Seely Brown speaks to embracing change, "curiosity amplifiers" and the opportunity that the internet actually provides. He also speaks to how technology keeps us "above" the situation as opposed to "in" the situation which is something that is very important to pay attention to. He has another video on the importance of tinkering and the power of art, engagement and being connected to things around us.
Time, Space and Creativity
There is a proliferation of content being written on the subject of time, space and creativity along with how some people and businesses are responding to our new landscape. Here are some articles that you might find interesting,
The Two-Three Headed Beast: Finding The Right Balance
Anyone who knows me knows the two-headed beast that lingers within ha-ha.
On one side I am addicted to the digital space and love technology for all that it has to offer. I am a naturally curious person and a perpetual student so having this kind of access accompanied by functionality is incredible (both as a business professional as well as a consumer). Admittedly there are times when it can be hard for me to disconnect.
On the other hand, I find it very important to set aside time to disconnect and think. My partner Jeff jokes with me sometimes when he walks in the door to find me lying on the couch staring at the ceiling in silence. “What are your doing?” He asks with a chuckle. “Just thinking,” I say. In Creative Words for Inspiration, I wrote about some personal examples of ways to break away, find new space, play and disconnect. It does wonders for the mind (and spirit).
And then there is the absolute necessity to collaborate with people to bring richness to each other's ideas if we are going to build upon them to make them the best that they can be as well as a reality (this goes back to Sir Harold Evans's talk on innovation).
We are working through an interesting time, so it’s the balance that so many of us are working to figure out.
Make Time, Find Your Space, Free Your Mind & Disconnect
Is the internet or technology destroying our brains? I am not a scientist, but I can't imagine that happening...only if we allow it to. Finding our balance and ways to nurture our minds, imagination and creativity is up to us.
How you do that is up to you and only you know what will work. Richard Watson offers his top ten ways to encourage deep thinking in the last section of his book mentioned above that I think are perfect. They are,
Create time and space
Become intellectually curious
Keep an ideas diary
Retain and open mind
Use the bathroom
Be pateient
Lose your inhibitions
Embrace failure
Share the problem
Don't go to work
We are experiencing opposing forces that pushes us to move faster at the exact same time we need to be even more inventive which requires us to slow down, take a step back and look at the big picture. I am not saying stop…I am just saying slow down.
Working quickly to meet the demands of our businesses today, while finding the time to think, refresh, plan and create for today and tomorrow - Tough balance, but critical.
- Lynda
PS. In addition to the the authors mentioned above, I must mention John Hagel as a source of great inspiration and information as I found a few links included above through reading his work and shared content. I have never met him, but follow him in some social networks and have been influenced by The Power of Pull that I have written about in the past and highly recommend.
The image of the sculpture at the top of the page is from a picture taken at Madison Square Park in NYC. This incredible artist's name is Jaume Plensa.
Have you ever eaten a really good book and heard yourself say, “why this little gem was absolutely delicious?” Not the kind that you eat at your desk or rush through in between subway stops…the type that you savor as you think and act on its pages. A book that urges you to put down your mental fork and pause for a minute to take it all in.
This is how I felt during my most recent experience with,
The Opposable Mind: Winning Through Integrative Thinking by Roger Martin
In it the author defines integrative thinking as,
The ability to constructively face the tension of opposing ideas and, instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, generate a creative resolution of the tension in the form of a new idea that contains elements of the opposing ideas but is superior to each.
If there were ever a time in need of integrative thinking it is now. A time when we are responsible for coming up with solutions to many of today’s complex challenges in order to meet the demands of our new world. And with that, supporting and evolving with the changing needs of our cherished customers, talent force, sustainability efforts, education system, new business models… and the list goes on.
It is a time that requires us to reject the limitations set forth by conventional thinking and allow ourselves to accept more complexity into the equation, “embracing the mess” as Martin puts it. By welcoming even more features of a problem into our innovation efforts and maintaining a holistic view, we will be better equipped to create and develop new breakthrough solutions that are so desperately needed today.
The Opposable Mind is a book that starts at a high level and digs deeper as you get a taste of the process through examples. Martin also writes about innovative leaders who have demonstrated their abilities to work past the choices and trade-offs so readily apparent, and the first to unveil themselves at each stage. He breaks down the complexities of each step to get to the core of the idea challenging the reader to look at themselves and pull/push for more.
Here is a high level overview and illustration of what is covered in the first half of the book,
In the second half of the book, the “personal knowledge system” is introduced, where we learn about stance, tools and experiences and the effect that they have have on one another. This is an incredible book and one that requires a thoughtful read. I highly recommend it.
As we work through this next evolution in business, redefine what we once knew as "best practices," and establish new metrics and benchmarks for success... it will also require time and self-reflection. As much as our processes and measurements will change, we too may need to make some personal adjustments as we move forward, try different things and embrace new methods.
I will leave you with an interview referenced in the book with the author (who is also the Dean of the Rotman School of Management) and Peter Drucker. I promise, this is well worth your time.
Please feel free to join in using the comments section below. I would love to hear from you.
Lynda
PS. Thank you Jeffrey Pajer for creating the image at the top of the page :)
Excitement, curiosity and/or a state of concern are the typical responses I receive when talking to people about the future. It can be a source of anxiety for some, opportunity for others, while eliciting several conflicting feelings for many people depending on the day or their own personal situation.
So who really knows exactly what is to come? Nobody. And many futurists will tell you the same thing. Michael Rogers wrote an article back in 2006 "What do Futurists Really Know?" where he ends with a great quote from Kenneth Boulding, a 20th century futurist who said,
"The future will always surprise us, but we must not let it dumbfound us."
Rogers closes by saying, "If the futurists achieve only that, it will likely make for brighter tomorrows all around." Well said.
This particular reading and content journey was more of an an exploratory into the future to stimulate thought and conversation and perhaps encourage some change in our organizational models and learning environments. Where I ended up was a bit further than I originally intended - becoming completely swept up in Richard Watson, Ray Kurzweil, Gerd Leonhard and Neal Bascomb (and yes, Sir Ken Robinson, Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown...again).
It is always interesting to listen to what people think will happen in the next 5 to 10 to even 50 years, regardless of whether we agree with all of it or not.
Future Files: A Brief History of the Next 50 Years by Richard Watson
In his book, Future Files: A Brief History of the Next 50 Years, Richard Watson takes us through several growth industries with five of what he considers the most important trends for the next fifty years. They are,
Ageing
Power Shift Eastwards
Global Connectivity
GRIN Technology
The Environment
In addition to multiple industries, he speaks to the potential impact of our “nostalgic pursuits,” data, personalization, customization, micro segmentation, artificial intelligence, single person households, a declining birthrate, time constraints, anxiety, water supply, food, etc. And that's just scratching the surface.
In a more recent blog post, Five Factoids for the Future, he points out that while the trends are pretty well known, it is the implications of these major drivers of change that are so important and should not be missed.
Watson ends his book with an overview of what he predicts will not change, stating, "Change itself has changed." Great line.
This is an absolutely intriguing book and I am a big fan of Richard Watson. Here is a video where he shares his views on futurists, trends, innovation, scenario planning and more.
Last year he updated one of the maps featured in the book. Take a look and download Trends and Technology Timeline 2010 (PDF ), which is described as “A roadmap for the exploration of current & future trends + some predictions to stir things up.”
The Transcendent Man - A Documentary About Ray Kurzweil
In Future Files, Watson references Ray Kurzweil who is someone I have been fascinated by due to what he has already accomplished in his lifetime. And now, even more so after watching “The Transcendent Man” a couple of months ago. To some, this documentary may seem a bit far-fetched, but I found it somewhat mind-blowing to play the “what if” game.
Whether you believe in what he says or not, this movie will really make you think about our society and what we would do ourselves if living forever became a reality. In my discussions with other people, some of the topics mentioned about artificial intelligence brought about some strange looks, passionate discussions and a few chuckles. I know, some of it may sound funny. But when you look at current events and the actual changes taking place, progress is being made. I found myself asking, "is it really that far-fetched?"
If some of this does become a reality, even as fast as we are moving, none of this will happen overnight of course, this all takes time. Tim Kastelle wrote a great article on this titled, Innovation Myth – Ideas Spread Quickly. Check it out, it's really good and goes through the S-curve of innovation and even features another article called Why Trends are for Suckers which explains the process in detail and speaks about creating real value and solving problems.
Another futuristic thinker that you might really enjoy reading and listening to is Gerd Leonhard.
Telemedia Futures by Gerd Leonhard
Gerd Leonhard is a media futurist who connects trends to business opportunities and speaks to our changing behavior specifically as it relates to media, content and technology.To learn more, you can listen to his podcasts , watch videos or download an app from his site.
Here is a video on Telemedia Futures where he talks about global connectivity, control, open platforms, streaming content, the “interface (r) evolution” advertising, google, growth areas, faster connectivity and “total convergence.” He speaks to traffic volume and load challenges and asks the question, “Who gets the value?”
Leaders of Today and Tomorrow
I couldn't finish this post about the future without talking about our current day and future leaders of tomorrow along with the shifts taking place in our learning environments.
Developing ourselves and future leaders will definitely require a keen focus on a new level of collaboration, creativity and innovation. Here are three amazing books written by or about individuals making an impact on education and organizational change,
Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creativeby Sir Ken Robinson - About the need for change in education and talent development in our new world of accelerating technological advancements and labor markets of the of the 21st century. He discusses the future and expresses the immediate need for making a shift in how we evaluate intelligence, while unlocking and harnessing the power of our creative capacities. Another recommended book from the same author that I wrote about last year is The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything.
A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Changeby Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown - Another great title that speaks for itself and featured in a past post. Here is a quote that really resonated with me as I soaked in its pages, “…We find that the very things that are speeding up the rate of change in the world are also giving us those new tools. The trick is to figure out how to harness these new resources, which make play, questioning and imagination the bedrocks of our new culture of learning”
These are all extremely smart and inspiring books. I recommend them to anyone interested in developing themselves or for those who have the opportunity to influence our current and future leaders.
Although we cannot predict exactly what will happen tomorrow or 50 years from now, we do have a sense of the direction we are headed. As as we continue on this journey, we will need to continue to open ourselves up to the possibilities and look for ways to develop our skill sets and organizational structures in order to respond to the changes taking place, move forward and thrive. Preparing for our future(s) - There is no time like the present. Embrace it.
In closing, I would like to leave you with this bit of inspiration and book trailer for The New Cool mentioned above (where the script was leveraged from the "Think Different" apple commercial),
Please feel free to add your comments or additional reads in the comments section below. I would love to hear from you.
A few people have shared similar concerns with me lately. They include fears of getting too far behind or not being able to keep up with all that is going on in terms of social media and social marketing. And if they are new and in the process of learning, seeing headlines like, "Twitter and Social Media Mistakes That Drive Everyone Nuts," although helpful and full of great content, can make the more risk adverse a little nervous or left feeling intimidated and overwhelmed.
These conversations have inspired this post. I will say that "getting up to speed" (for lack of a better phrase) does take time, a lot of work and a full commitment. Even then, you might feel like you are missing things or lagging behind due to the pace of change taking place in this space.
Here are some business reading (and viewing) resources that I think will help in developing a strong foundation for you or your team. If you have some additional recommendations to add to this post, I encourage you to jump in and add more in the comments section below.
Tedx Talk's Channel Video: “Reinventing Social Media”
To begin, this is a great video featuring David Armano who speaks about our excitement with social media and the “shiny object syndrome.” He talks about where our focus should be, the power of being “social” as well as his own transformational and humbling experiences.
Three Fantastic Social Marketing Books and a Compass
The following books are resources that I recommend we use as workbooks. I have learned so much from them that I have a list of to-dos waiting for me daily. Make sure that you have access to a computer so that you can look things up and try things out. These books are not skimmers and require focused reading along with a hands-on approach to get the most out of them. They are packed full of everything that we need to know (and then some).
Book #1: Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust(updated edition) by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. This is an incredible book and one that I recommend reading first before anything else to get you into the mindset necessary to succeed in this space. They write about our distrust with advertising and some businesses along our needs as human beings to understand intent. They write about trust and what it really means to be a "Trust Agent." Chris and Julien spend time discussing developing relationships, social capital and the importance of not selling at people, with a clear message...don't be “that guy.”
Chris talks about his own mistakes and even shares an example including what it took to apologize and rebuild trust in his own community. The authors remind us that “communities don’t want to be managed, they want to be cared for.” This book includes several tools to explore, pushing us to take action, while focusing on the human element, providing value and above all else - listening first. Chris and Julien have true depth and experience in this space. They end it with next steps and what to do to get started. This is a brilliant book. I am sure that I will be reading this one again.
Once you have read Trust Agents, I highly recommend,
Book #2: Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web(updated edition) by Brian Solis. This could become your go to reference book as you move along in your own social journey. You will see this once you dig in and start reading chapters like, "New Media University" which span from 101 through to 1101. As you move through this 316 pager you will come upon more advanced topics and insights that will open your eyes to another dimension depending on your level of expertise.
Spend time with these books and take a hands-on approach. You will certainly leave knowing so much more than you did prior to reading them. And it is a continuous process. Trust Agents and Engage have both been updated since their original publication dates.
Content, Social + Search Articles
In listening to a web conference where60 marketing experts shared their visions of personalization and the future, social engagement, value-driven custom content, and search were touched upon. It is clear that they will continue to play an increasingly significant role in the success of our communication strategies. This leads me to my final recommendations for articles recently published on these topics.
Redefining Content Strategy and Content Marketing is an informative article that explains the definitions of the two terms as well as references a study on the growth and demand for custom content.
Elasticity wrote an interesting post on their blog titled, Edgerank for Brands and Agencies that describes how social is changing the search marketing industry.
In addition to speaking at the Ted conference above, David Armano also wrote a fantastic post titled, Search + Social = Authority x Influence which provides a descriptive overview of social search and an illustration that ties it all together.
In addition to the listening, learning, practicing and workbooks, talk with people and ask them to share their experiences with you. Develop your own community for learning. People often love to share their knowledge. There is no harm in asking right? And make sure that this happens online and offline. You can get a little buggy sitting behind the computer or electronic device for hours on end - trust me!
So I will stop here for today. As you go through these resources you will see a common thread throughout many of them – the HUMAN aspects of social. As important as it is to know what is out there in terms of tools and practices, keeping the human connection top of mind comes first. Brian Solis said it so well in a quote from Engage that I wanted to leave you with,
“It’s not about the tools. It’s not about the ability to build profile pages within specific social networks and update them all day, every day. It’s not about creating a blog and populating it with content. And it’s definitely not about creating and polluting the Web with irrelevant social objects. This is about social architecture, engineering, and the empathy required to build bridges between your company, its brand and its audiences, customers and peers. It’s also about contributing value to communities in which you wish to participate.”
I hope that you found this post helpful. If you have some additional recommendations to add here, please jump in and feel free to add to them in the comment section below.
I had a very surprising customer experience recently that ended in my canceling a subscription that I started last December. My online “relationship” started and ended in the time span of 2 months, which ultimately impacted my offline relationship that had already been established for years. For anyone who knows me, I typically don’t like to start a conversation by introducing a negative, but I bring this up in effort to kick off this post with a personal and recent experience upon which to draw from.
The 50% Club: Go On …Take the Money and Run
I will spare you the details but ultimately it was a take the money and run scenario. The overall experience left me feeling helpless and ripped off. It was as if I hit the pay button and heard, “Woo hooo…. we got you sucka!” as I imagined a bandit jumping on his horse with a pistol in one hand shooting wildly into the air, as the other held the reigns and a bag full of cash...kicking dust in my face as he rode away to the next town laughing hysterically. "Yee Haw!" Okay a slight exaggeration but humor is my coping mechanism.
But seriously, have you ever felt this way? As a consumer, this experience made me wonder what in the heck was going on with this trusted brand that I had known for so long. As a businessperson it brought even more questions like, was this disconnect due to their failed attempt to respond to the changes in the marketplace? How did they view their connection with their customers? And finally, how could they believe this to be a sustainable business model?
It reminded me of a point made inThe New Rules of Retail: Competing in the World’s Toughest Marketplace. In it, the authors Robin Lewis and Michael Dart discuss the importance of having complete control (not necessarily ownership) over the value chain where they predict that 50% of retail and consumer businesses will fail and disappear in this current wave of change. 50% - think about that for a minute.
The authors provide their insights and additional predictions, supporting them with research and findings from studies that they have conducted. They discuss the collapse of traditional models and prove why we must excel in every customer interaction by truly getting to know our customers, understanding and acting upon their preferences and behaviors and providing real value with each interaction. Value as it is determined and defined by them.
Today, it is our responsibility to change and evolve with our customers, without them having to ask us to. Lewis and Dart talk about the power of operational excellence as, “simply a cost of entry” describing a much more “profound thread” connecting the people who will succeed through true customer centricity with strategic imperatives such as:
As Michael R Hoffman points out in Customer Worthy (featured further down in this post),
“Each contact a customer has with your company, its products, its services, and its partners is an asset and a pivot point for company success. Every interaction has tremendous revenue opportunity, along with enormous risk potential. Yet customer interactions are the most underused asset in most companies.”
Customer Centricity…And Our Beloved Customers
As I marinated in my recent experience, I wondered how it was even possible for it to happen. It felt like someone went a little too far with the “tools” forgetting about the fact that there was a living, breathing human being involved.
It made me wish for an experience more like the ones expressed inI Love You More Than My Dog written by Jeanne Bliss. She focuses on the importance of every customer experience from their view along with the significance that every employee's role and decisions play - even the actions from those who are not in customer facing roles. She talks about what it means to be a “beloved company” and draws upon several examples providing valuable case studies that speak to intent, motivation and impact along with several personal and heartwarming engagements while she was at Land’s End.
In order to make sure that we can remain competitive and really take care of our consumers versus just saying it, hiring the right talent and knowing every single interaction point is critical to ensure the experiences are the absolute best that they can possibly be. And more important than just knowing, is acting upon the knowledge by customizing these experiences for them and developing deeper relationships. Real ones.
Here is a little snippet with Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos sharing his views and approach to providing truly customer centric experiences and building relationships.
Mapping to See If We Have What It Takes To Be Customer Worthy
Michael R Hoffman writes about the importance of mapping every possible combination of interaction points in Customer Worthy. He also provides a matrix to help initiate this exercise, which is customizable for different organizations.
Michael goes through the interdependencies and significance of every interaction including those touch points impacted by decisions made throughout the organization as well with those outside. He also addresses monetization, quality and costs of contacts along with identifying opportunities that could become more visible through this exercise. He states,
“Companies that cannot monitor customer worthiness or see contact flow data are continually surprised by revenue shortfalls, inventory outages, resource cost overruns, and diminished customer satisfaction. Traditional financial measures lag too far behind customer activities to be effective for timely business decision-making. Operations and quality metrics are too far removed from a customer’s interests, intent, and preferences. As a result, your company’s internal measurements can look fine. Quality and operations metrics can appear good to great. But customer and contact flow may expose disengaged and indifferent customers. The result is revenue decline and business erosion.”
At first, this might seem more relevant for one side of the organization over another, but it's not. It is for everybody – from strategic planning, to feeding the creative process, marketing communications, operations, finance, manufacturing, etc. I have had the wonderful opportunity to engage in some absolutely incredible exchanges with the author who has had a breadth of experience over the years. Here are just a couple more quotes that I wanted to share from the book that speaks to everything above,
“Most marketers understand the importance of thinking like a customer, but adopting the “Think Like a Customer” mindset probably requires a tremendous shift in many other parts of your company including management, operations, and finance. It’s a cultural shift, not a systems upgrade or replacement, not a firing and rebuilding. It’s a paradigm shift in mindset, developing an inquisitiveness focused on what we can do better for customers at each contact.”
“…Customers are exposed to tens of thousands of messages every week. They are approached through 20 to 100 entertainment and news channels, smart appliances, radio, billboards, signage, newspapers, magazines, product placements in shows and movies, Bluetooth-connected everything, RFID, and on and on. Channels are exploding, and customers are stuck in the middle of a mash-up of messages, promises, and offers.”
If we are deemed customer worthy today, how will we stay that way? Companies are faced with significant challenges working to remain agile and up to date in order to anticipate and respond to the shifts in consumer behavior and to innovate new ways to satisfy their rapidly changing desires. How can organizations learn, cultivate skill sets and impart that knowledge internally? In order to innovate, become even more customer-centric and competitive there is so much that needs to be done.
Based on the rate of change that we are all experiencing, the business ecosystem (inside the organization and out) is increasingly becoming a world of teaching and learning environments at all levels. We can learn from the educational communities, which are going through some pretty significant shifts themselves. In A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change, Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown write about these changes, new methods for learning and adaptation. Here is a quote that really resonated with me as I soaked in its pages,
“…We find that the very things that are speeding up the rate of change in the world are also giving us those new tools. The trick is to figure out how to harness these new resources, which make play, questioning and imagination the bedrocks of our new culture of learning”
If you do nothing else but read “Sam’s Story" on pages 20-22 you will walk away with so much. But do read it in its entirety, trust me on this – it will make such an impact.
Like I said to a good business friend of mine recently - It's like a great big puzzle and a creative business pallet just waiting to be painted upon. And as exciting as this is, what comes with it are serious new risks in which we need to manage to ensure that we remain profitable. It's like the art and the function of architecture and the energy exchanged between the forces of creativity, beauty, pragmatism and functionality. This is like the story of The Golden Gate Bridge, how it was created and what continues to draw people to it today.
“The challenge is to find a way to marry structure and freedom to create something altogether new” – John Seely Brown & Douglas Thomas in A New Culture of Learning
Many companies have what they need today to move forward and flourish. And for those who aren't already doing so, to expand the definition and practices from being customer centric to becoming customer worthy. I am not suggesting that we will have all the answers after reading four books. What I will say is that reading these will certainly provoke thought and encourage a dialog. And they can definitely influence action and inspire next steps.
A few weeks ago I found myself in a conversation that stuck in my head that keeps coming up. Getting out of the conferences and networking events to engage in conversations taking place outside my own circle always proves to be enlightening.
FREE, FREE, FREE...Please Pass the Carrots
I had a wonderful opportunity to meet a fantastic group of people at a community event recently. My assigned task was chopping vegetables with other volunteers of all ages and diverse backgrounds.
As I washed the broccoli, the topic of television came up. I knew this was going to be good based on the energy in the kitchen. We were talking about the shows that everyone watched when all of the sudden the lightness in the conversation took a bit of a turn and within approximately 30 minutes I witnessed a cable company lose a customer. Wait a minute, what happened?
It all started with a gentleman who had missed one of the shows being discussed due to some ongoing issues he was experiencing with his cable provider. He provided some pretty horrific examples of the interactions with the customer service team, while having no problem revealing the name of the company throughout the discussion. Whoa. Ouch.
He went on to say he should just cancel because he had more channels than he needed anyway. But if he did cancel or change his subscription he would end up missing some of his favorite shows.
“I don’t have cable, and I watch everything I want,” said one of the girls next to me. Two others at the table chimed in with agreement. Wait, three of the five people I just met didn't have cable? By the end it was confirmed - the cable provider was about to lose another customer – and not to another cable company either. The cableless three were going to help by showing him how. Throughout their instructions and I kept hearing “it’s easy” and “FREE FREE FREE” and at times, "much cheaper.”
And then the final resounding sound of, “You just don’t need all that anymore…that’s so old. Honestly, why deal with rude people over the phone who don’t really care anyway?”
SOLD (or so it seemed).
Now I am not sure if he actually followed through to make the switch, but I swear that this event walked right off the pages of Saul J. Berman’s new book, Not For Free: Revenue Strategies for a New World. In it, the author compares what we are experiencing in several industries to the music industry,
“The music industry continues to ignore the fact that its revenue model collapsed because customers hated it. Years of being forced to buy fourteen songs you didn’t want to get two you did bred a lot if ill will. Too many companies in other industries are repeating this same mistake. Sticking it to the customer may be profitable, but only as long as the customer lacks options.”
Our table had moved onto the carrots while three people were giving him more options that he was ready to take.
And the trend continues. Just yesterday, Gigaom published a story titled, Cord Cutters Survival Stories: Bye By Cable TVwhich is part of its weekend series that shares stories of people’s "cord cutting" experiences. It reminded me of another page in Berman's book where he writes,
“TV everywhere and its brethren look a lot like what the music labels did with albums – they want to continue selling everything to everyone. We know where that leads. The longer the cable industry clings to a bundle-only pricing model, the wider the door swings open for nontraditional competition: single-show downloads from iTunes, or a newer a la carte streaming services available from iTunes, Amazon and Netflix.”
Not for Free – The Need for New Revenue Strategies and Innovation
My example is just one that focuses on cable but so many more examples exist. Not only with poor customer service interactions and increased competition, but with changes in expectations and what people are willing to pay for in the new world.
We have all seen the publishing industry struggle with this transition along with music, cable and so many others. Last week, the Wall Street Journal published the video below that discusses Cisco’s challenges with their core business, competition and pricing pressures. WSJ also talks about their consumer segments and the availability of similar products in video conferencing being offered for FREE over the Internet.
As we can see here, even the most innovative companies like Cisco who published Doing Both: How Cisco Captures Today’s Profits and Drives Tomorrows Growth that I wrote about last December is challenged.
As Berman points out and the market shows, is it becoming increasingly more important to focus in on segmentation (based on what people are actually doing today) and pricing, payer and package innovation. All on an ongoing basis.
Not For Free talks about the fact that the digital divide has certainly made it more challenging for organizations. He breaks these consumers into three behavioral segments with percentages and descriptions attached - Massive Passives (65%) Gadgetiers (15%) and Kool Kids (20%).
Berman reinforces our need to continually look at our own minority segments and to consider using separate revenue models for each. Especially as their behaviors become more mainstream. He says that for some this will require a different mindset,
“Namely executives look at their dominant audience base and find it difficult to understand why they should take on risk and expense of developing new models for minority segments when most of their current revenue and profit comes from a core customer base. They only realize their mistake when it is too late - after a competitor or new entrant has innovated a profitable way to take on the smaller segments and eat into the main revenue base of the industry.”
Berman provides case studies where organizations have been successful. He stresses our need to explore more options in seeking new revenue sources versus limiting ourselves to automatically looking to develop new products.
As much as innovation is discussed, he doesn’t ignore its challenges. He speaks to risks organizations assume with customers as well as with regulation.
The book is structured in a way that provides definitions of different revenue models with several examples, while presenting the reality of the challenges and pitfalls for each. He talks about the lessons learned and lists out questions for organizations to ask themselves to stimulate thought, action and experimentation.
For all of my reading on innovation over the past year, I was happy to find a recently published book that focuses on revenue strategies in the way that this one does. I highly recommend it.
So with this, I will leave you with a final quote from the book's author,
"The easy path, the normal path, is to find all the reasons not to innovate your revenue models rather than seizing opportunities for revenue innovation. Don't be normal. Don't take the easy way out. There are no second chances, and the clock is ticking."
Depending on whether you are a glass half full or half empty type of person, this post could take two entirely different tones. I myself am a glass half full type, so this is intended from the perspective that we are in a world full of opportunity and yes, one that certainly comes with risk, uncertainty and a heck of a lot of work to remain competitive and profitable.
This is a picture that I took on a run near my neighborhood that captures my sentiment on so many things taking place right now. It inspires me every day. A good friend of mine and former business colleague actually worked on this a few years ago.
It was the last thing that came to mind when I went to bed last night. I was thinking about the pace of change in the world. And with this, how we have become catalysts for this change in one-way or another. What a big topic to pop into my head right before attempting to go to sleep. Would you like to bet on how successful that was? Lol.
Anyway, many of my conversations with people over the past week (actually the last year or two) have centered on the speed at which everything is moving. Discussions around the ability to keep up with, or having the capacity to learn and innovate at the pace required to remain competitive have been at the forefront of many of these conversations. And they will continue as we explore what is successful for us as we define our own benchmarks for success.
As challenging as everything is in terms of business and the economy, and as much as people say we don’t like change, I can’t help to find this to be quite an exciting time. Amazing things are indeed happening here. I do not want to downplay the serious nature of where things are economically, but I do think that it will take a strong focus and a lot of will to stay inspired to influence positive change in this environment.
So many us are exploring and defining what we need to do to adapt as individuals and institutions while making adjustments by trying new things. We are in a world that requires the mindset of a perpetual student and the sensibility and capacity of that of an artist. People who are successfully navigating this new landscape have demonstrated this, which leads me to my first reading recommendation for this post.
In The Power of Pull:How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion, John Hagel III, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison write about “The Big Shift” and the need to focus our attention toward moving to collaboration curves and new ways to create by leveraging knowledge flows. It's a remarkable book that pushes us to truly explore and dig even deeper to navigate our new and ever evolving world.
They discuss the diminishing returns of push models and the rewards in developing new approaches as we (as individuals and institutions) move further into the new “pull economy.” The authors outline the three levels of pull that build upon each other along with the benefits of converting to a new way of thinking. Hagel, Brown and Davison reinforce the importance of developing practices that allow for more flexibility, access and attracting talent with passion for their work.
Take a look at the video below of John Hagel III (one of the authors) -
In finishing the Power of Pull, “creation spaces” stuck with me.
Just this week the New York Times wrote an article, General Assembly Aims to Gather New York Techies introducing a new business in the Flatiron District, where entrepreneurs and start-ups can rent space, collaborate and learn. It’s no surprise that one of the backers and supporters is IDEO who’s President and CEO Tim Brown wrote Change By Design (another must have).
You can also see the development of virtual and social creation spaces throughout the internet. This week I joined a few in the form of tweet ups hosted by the Social CMO - Marketer Monday (#MMchat), Blog Chat (#blogchat) and Blog Tech (#blogtech). Everyone is welcome and there are all levels of experience joining and participating in discussions on specific topics of interest.
Identifying the right spaces relevant to you takes time. But there is no doubt of the value of these interactions, the two-way dialog and sharing that takes place between people who are so passionate about their interests.
The examples above are just a few that demonstrate our ability to try new things and how we work to adapt at a time of revolutionary change.
What a great opportunity to observe and participate in re-imagining our talent force and approach to new organizational models.
Feel free to add some more examples or share your feedback in the comments section below. I would love to hear and learn from you.
This week I wanted to write a post with some resources relating to talent, management and leadership or something along those lines. My brainstorm brought a few ideas and today I decided on this one due to the combination of content and inspiration that work together on this very important topic.
On this particular journey of reading, listening and recent conversations, there were a few amazing people and three incredibly powerful resources that left an indelible mark on my thinking.
These recent conversations included discussions with people in business as well as in the teaching profession. There were so many parallels to what many are experiencing today - the importance and need to develop, nurture and retain top talent. This is an opportunity that calls for positive change.
It started a few months ago when I discovered the video below, Changing Education Paradigms, through my RSA Events app where one of my all time favorite authors appeared – Sir Ken Robinson. He was the focus of my very first post on creativity and innovation.
As I sipped some coffee, I pulled up this video and have watched it several times since. Although it focuses on education paradigms, if you replace “education” with “business” and watch it through that lens, you will see similar things happening – seismic shifts in our need to develop talent in a new way. It forces us to consider how we choose to nurture the talent and develop the skill sets required for our future in the post-industrial age. Or, how we ourselves as individuals need to adjust. As he writes on the whiteboard,
“The current system was designed and conceived in a different age.”
And the conversation continues. Just yesterday I saw a tweet from Dr. Ian. P McCarthy @Toffeemen68, a professor at Simon Fraser University who said,
"It’s difficult to realize tomorrow's goals and strategies, with yesterday’s beliefs, structures and practices.”
This brings me to a book recommendation if you haven’t read this already – Linchpin, by Seth Godin. When I watched the video and saw the tweet above, they reminded me of a chapter in Linchpin on the industrial past as well as several other points made throughout its pages. Linchpin is incredible. There is no sugar with this one – pure power the entire way through. I absolutely loved it. And, I must thank a friend and past business associate for making this recommendation. Thank you Janis, you were right.
He hits upon some pretty important topics including our idea of the American dream and how it’s “underpinning is crumbling.” He describes linchpin type talent and the importance of nurturing and growing this type of talent – talent of the future - the talent that will be necessary to create indispensable businesses or develop ourselves as individuals.
In my search to expand upon this further, I attended a web conference yesterday from Deloitte called, Talent Outlook for 2011: Retention Revisited. Due to this targeting HR executives, I wanted to point out that this is an excellent webcast for any leader within an in organization regardless of its size.
Although these trends may not be surprising, it gets the mental juices flowing and inspires action to dig deeper. It inspires us to see what others are experiencing as pressing concerns along with recognizing the need to adjust with our shifting priorities. It also reinforces the importance of developing a focused retention strategy.
It goes into the need to look at the talent agenda as well as consider multiple strategies based on the different needs among the various segments of a multigenerational workforce. Deloitte speaks to the “ talent paradox” and challenges that companies face in getting the creative, technical or leadership skills required.
They reinforce the need to try new things to foster growth, while considering multiple engagement strategies including both financial and non-financial reward structures that are important to so many and are proven to motivate, and if done well, inspire.
What an exciting time.
Thank you for reading.
And, if you have any recommendations for books, articles, video or any other content related to this topic (or others), please feel free to share in the comments section below or email me at businessreads@gmail.com. I would love to read more recommendations from you.
Some recent conversations about sales, marketing and business development for BtoB have influenced this post today. Throughout these discussions, “the myth of the lone inventor” referenced in my last post came up a few times and seems relevant here as well. It really stands out as a recurring theme these days.
Today's recommendations include some studies, a book and a web conference, so I am going to jump right in.
If you haven’t read it already, take a look at,
The Rise of The Digital C-Suite: How Executives Locate and Filter Business Information from Forbes Insights. I read this a little over a year ago, and find it just as relevant today. While there are more recent studies that focus on mobility and video, this report is worth reading first due to the big picture view, survey findings and breakdown of different segments - Wang, Generation PC and Netscapers. The study goes into much more detail, but here is brief description of the three,
“The differences, arise in terms of the degree to which executives immerse themselves in digital mindsets. Generation Wang is content to use the Internet as a means of augmenting traditional approaches to information gathering and networking. Generation PC, made up of digital settlers, goes a few steps further. But it is Generation Netscape that has the potential to bring a new persona to the C-suite, one in which transparency and openness are core personal and professional attributes.”
This particular study was also referenced in a recent recommendation that I received a few weeks ago from a friend in the marketing and advertising agency space. This next book goes much deeper, well beyond how we locate and filter information.
The Buyersphere Project: How Businesses Buy from Businesses in The Digital Marketplace by Gord Hotchkiss. It is on sale at Amazon, however, rather than having to purchase it, you can download it here for free. I haven’t worked for, or done business with this company in the past, I just think this book is fantastic. Using both quantitative and qualitative research, the author provides a thorough overview of the complexity in the BtoB buying process today. In it, Hotchkiss goes through the importance of risk assessment, mapping the “Buyersphere”, search and syncing up with technology. As with other articles recently published, he challenges the imposed buying funnel, referring to it as a myth due to the reality of consumer behavior.
He gets into the BtoB buying decision-making process and speaks to the clear gap between “doers” and “buyers.” He goes on to tackle risk and the human side of decision-making and influence. While Hotchkiss stresses the importance of face-to-face meetings, he discusses the new web model and importance of leveraging our digital assets. Here are just two of the many quotes that I highlighted in this book,
“Just as our prospects are living more of their lives online, we have to expose more of our businesses there. The divide between our physical business and our virtual one will continue to melt away. Our web presence has to become a continuing connection with both prospects and customers.”
“The dynamic tension introduced by the force of technological change vs. the resistance of human behavior is forming a landscape that’s increasingly hazardous for vendors to navigate.”
That last quote is pretty powerful. This brings me to the next topic of technology and the importance of the influencers within the IT department or division of an organization.
Because of the dependence businesses have on technology, it is important to consider the influence and impact that this department may have on the BtoB buying decisions for our own products or services (that is of course if they are not already the direct buyer).
Anyone that has worked with IT, knows the immense pressure they are under in terms of staying ahead of the curve, handling today’s business and planning for tomorrow’s future. So, knowing their world, incorporating the value and benefits of our offering and building credibility with them is an important part of the process. This is true from what I have experienced with creative and marketing companies/service providers. The Buyersphere book mentioned above also references other “repeat modified and blank slate” type purchases where IT would likely need to be involved.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) has several resources on their site as well as some very informative web conferences that I have recently attended.IDC Insights Predictions 2011: Cross-Industry Overview provides a look into emerging trends and the changes occurring that impact IT, providing an overview of the intersection of business and technology within different verticals. They also published Welcome to the New Mainstream which you might find interesting as well.
Unlike my other posts, I didn’t find relevant video to accompany this one. So, I guess that’s it for today. And please know, that I welcome new business read recommendations from anyone who wants to share. I just received another one last week that I absolutely love, and I am planning to write a post for that next week. Until then, have a wonderful, wonderful weekend.
I have to admit that last Saturday, it was quite inspiring to wake up to a fresh new year.
2011. Nice.
Here we are.
With the New Year and a fresh canvas to blog upon, what should we discuss in this very first entry? Three words popped into my head. And yes, they are the words that we are seeing so much of these days - collaboration, invention and innovation.
Let’s start with C-O-L-L-A-B-O-R-A-T-I-O-N. Okay, this word may be overused, I know, and it is getting completely exhausted like so many others where we beat it to death until it no longer has any meaning.
But it does have meaning and it is probably one of the most important words in business today. For me, it is prioritized over innovation, because without collaboration there is none. And an invention cannot turn into an innovation without it.
In my last post I mentioned The Orange Revolution, the authors open the book discussing breakthrough teams using the example of Thomas Edison and his team of experimenters. Sir Harold Evans also uses Edison as just one of the several great examples in the video below. He explains that the act of inventing is much more complex than the eureka moment which he describes as “total bullshit” (I tend to agree). He says,
“Invention is not innovation. Innovation is not simply invention or discovery. It’s invention or discovery brought to use.”
Sir Harold Evans goes on to reinforce the ideas of eureka moment and the lone inventor are both myths. He provides examples of the innovative strengths that we have here in the US and speaks to the importance of getting inventions to the marketplace (and of course, the effort and collaboration that it requires).
The video below is approximately 40 minutes long and is well worth your time and thought.
Well, the Blizzard of 2010 has me taking a snow day. I hear the plows hitting the city streets as I write and eat leftover pie from the Holidays, while sipping some Mexican Hot Chocolate and staying in my cozy house to finish up this entry.
This post started out with a pretty full list of links all tied together showing the progression of the year. I have decided to scale it back to three books and a study because it achieves the same thing by capturing the current state of the marketing and agency landscape as well as providing some additional insights as we move into the next year.
As with everything posted here, these reads have influenced my approach and have expanded my thinking to include additional considerations during the strategic development and planning stages whether it be for an organization as a whole, individual department, developing talent, or single project. I hope that you find them useful as well.
To start, Forrester Research published a study back in March, The Future of Agency Relationships: Marketers Need to Lead Agency Change In the Adaptive Marketing Era. In it, Forrester provides an overview of the altered landscape and how agencies and technology companies are competing more directly. So, as marketers and consumer behaviors evolve, so too are the agencies. It reconfirms what everyone is and has been experiencing.
As this trend continues, it will create both opportunities and threats which will push us all for further innovation in our business models as well as developing the right team. All while nurturing and retaining the necessary talent for growth. Whether you are on the agency or client side, we are all experiencing the excitement and challenges that it all presents.
Bob Garfield wrote a pretty compelling book that captures the shift in the industry in The Chaos Scenario. The book trailer alone is enough to make you stop and assess your own situation. Not surprisingly, along with other awards, he won one for best book marketing.
With all of this, we have been adjusting our strategies, developing new ones, identifying new opportunities and threats, developing our business models and evaluating our talent and additional resource needs.
This coupled with the fact that you can’t do any of this without the right talent and a cohesive team has led me to my final recommendations for the year - Doing Bothand the The Orange Revolution.
Doing Both: How Cisco Captures Today’s Profits and Drives Tomorrows Growth is completely dependant on collaboration, great leadership and true team. This is a great book and full of different business approaches, models and case studies which include both successes and failures. Teams are discussed here, but I would recommend an additional book that focuses on the topic in much more detail.
Teams, real true, knock ‘em outta the park teams, need to be a primary focus for this next wave of business evolution with all of the dynamics that it brings with it. This is where The Orange Revolution: How One Great Team Can Transform and Entire Organization by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton comes into play. The authors spend time throughout the chapters expressing the importance of what it will take to create engagement, momentum and the "light touch" needed from leadership to facilitate. They also share real stories and statistics gleaned from their studies. At one point they reference the Rudyard Kipling quote, " The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the team." So true. Repeat that to anyone and it...well, it sticks.
Just take a look at the chapter outline and preview some of the content to get a sense of what this remarkable book has to offer in terms of developing an environment for a revolutionary culture and innovative breakthrough teams.
I hope that you have enjoyed the Holidays and here is is *virtual toast* to a happy New Year.
Good morning! I questioned the use of that exclamation point and after a few cups of coffee, I decided to use it. It is quite a week or two that we all have ahead of us, I am sure. I have a post that I want to jump right into this morning.
This week, my news feeds delivered several stories on current and emerging marketing channels along with changes in consumer usage. They reconfirmed my belief in remaining channel agnostic (or as my friend Chet likes to say, "channel fluent") and the importance of truly integrated marketing.
The transitions taking place also reinforce the importance of trending analysis, listening to, and observing our audiences, while using research and results to inform how we reach, message and engage them. And more importantly, to provide the products and services that they want, need and deserve.
To start, take a look at a quick video from the Wall Street Journal, digits: Teen Texting Study Offers Surprising Stats (below) discussing how “kids between the ages of 13-17 text more than 6 times an hour while they are awake,” along with more interesting statistics that can be found in a study from Nielsen, Mobile Youth Around the World. This report can bedownloaded here.
Yesterday, I woke up to find, “Email Gets an Instant Makeover” from the New York Times where they talk about Facebook, the future of messaging and the services “threatening to eclipse e-mail.” Then today they published, "Email's Big Demographic Split" which focuses on the year over year usage changes by age segment.
I have written and posted studies on changes taking place with Millennials, Gen Xers, Boomers and Silents. Now enter Generation Z, another incredible generation shaping our future.
I received some feedback recently that reading about the recession and depression is…well…depressing. It certainly can be, yet at the same time there is so much that we can learn from these times, which will allow us to create new opportunities to grow.
In one way or another, we are all feeling the impact of the tremendous shift that is taking place in the world. Even those who are not directly affected cannot ignore the economic turbulence that has influenced so much change.
“Of the 13 recessions that the American public has endured since the Great Depression of 1929-33, none has presented a more punishing combination of length, breadth and depth than this one."
“Looking ahead to when the economy recovers, many say they plan to keep up this new emphasis on thrift and caution as they manage their personal finances.”
This reminds me of the conversations that I used to have with my Grandmother who lived through the Great Depression. Born in 1918, she went through that time as an 11-year old girl and into her early twenties.
As a young girl, I would stand on a step stool by her side with a towel in hand as she washed the dishes. She would always wear her soft cotton apron and I would look up and listen as she told me stories, sometimes about her being a little girl just my size in the 1920’s. It was such a different time then. When she was finished with the dishes, what stood out to me was that she would always recycle the tin foil and zip lock bags by washing and drying them just the same as the cups and bowls.
The Depression was a time in her life that left a mark and changed how she viewed the world and how she “consumed” forever. She always said that we had so much and people really didn’t understand how much they have until they go without. She was right.
This is not a doom and gloom story by any means. She was actually the happiest and most joyful woman that I have ever known. Funny too. It’s just that she had a different appreciation based on her own personal experiences.
I am not suggesting that we are experiencing the same level of deprivation as the Great Depression. My point is that this became part of her as a person and stayed with her for the rest of her life. And even after the post depression era, she he was still washing tin foil and Baggies in the 80’s.
So how will we know the impact on individuals who have lived through this current financial crisis? Only time will tell. And, with tools today, we have much better ways to capture information and respond to what we have learned.
What we do know is that we can’t go back to what we knew pre-recession and use outdated information. What we can do is leverage, learn and add to it. We can take this as an opportunity to learn and embrace the new world, apply new methodologies and gain valuable insights.
I would like to recommend a study from the Pew Research Center. They gave me permission to post this to Scribd, which I have embedded below.
And as a personal note to my friend Chester: I agree with you, that you can learn a lot from washing tin foil.
Well, we are almost there…2011. Full steam ahead {exclamation}.
For the remaining sixteen days of this year, I am working to get some of my top picks logged onto this blog to use as a personal sharing resource library. After going through the items that are important and relevant to planning, I realized that I haven’t shared one of my favorites from Pew Research Center. They published, “Millennials: A Portrait of Generation Next - Confident. Connected. Open to Change.” It’s 149 pages in length and worth spending some time with.
This is a great study to reference as we plan for, and respond to, the short- and long-term needs of our businesses, clients and consumers. Especially as we discover, experience and realize the impact of the converging trends taking place all at once. It covers everything.
Here are some excerpts from the overview to give you an idea of what is covered,
“Millennials’ technological exceptionalism is chronicled throughout the survey. It’s not just their gadgets—it’s the way they’ve fused their social lives into them.”
"They are more ethnically and racially diverse than older adults. They’re less religious, less likely to have served in the military, and are on track to become the most educated generation in American history."
“We examine their demographics; their political and social values; their lifestyles and life priorities; their digital technology and social media habits; and their economic and educational aspirations. We also compare and contrast Millennials with the nation’s three other living generations.”
Pew Research Center granted me permission to upload this document onto Scribd, which I have also embedded below.
For my next few posts (as in my last), I will focus on 2011 and beyond. There is so much to discuss and write about, so I am breaking them up to allow for short, focused posts.
We might have thought that 2010 was full of technological change and advancements, but just wait for 2011 and beyond.
As everyone tries to gain some footing, we will continue to see significant advancements that will impact businesses, marketers and consumers. Well actually, more appropriately, the world.
In October,Gartner outlined the top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2011. At the Gartner Symposium held in Australia in November, 4 broad trendswere identified that are said will change IT, and the economy, in the next 10 years. Peter Sondergaard, their senior vice president and global head of research listed them in the article they published as follows,
Cloud
Business Impact of Social Computing
Context Aware Computing
Pattern Based Strategy
These trends are supported in multiple lists provided by several technology leaders as they share their predictions, write trending articles, blogs and publish multiple studies. The World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers list for 2011 demonstrates these trends in “Empowering People and Transforming Society" which you can review or download below. If you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend it.
The convergence of mobile and personal computers is here. A couple of years ago I read that the desktop computer would be irrelevant within three years. And that really stuck with me from both a consumer's and marketer’s perspective.
Well, it looks like we are tracking just in time.
New York Times wrote an article last week, “Smartphones and Tablets to Take Over in 2011.” In it, they provide an overview of some information from the recently released study from IDC, Predictions 2011: Welcome to the New Mainstream, and statements including, “The PC-centric era is over,” and “Tablet sales are expected to more than double next year, and to keep climbing, breezing by netbooks, the phenomenon of two years ago.”
Take a look at the market this year and just some of the plans for 2011 to see that this is quickly becoming a reality:
iPad - launched in April 2010 (selling 7million this year) and is targeting Q1 2011 for iPad 2
Samsung Galaxy Tablet - introduced September 2010 (selling over 1 million this year) with rumors of another named “Gloria” in March or April 2011
Motorola Android “Honeycomb” Tablet - targeting the first half 2011
Blackberry Playbook - planned for early 2011
HP Palm Tablet - planned to release in 2011
I woke up yesterday morning and grabbed my iPhone on the table next to my bed and started reading the news through my apps while I sipped coffee. I saw an influx of articles on this topic once again from all of the buzz happening at the D: Dive Into Mobile Conference held this week.
Here are three of the interviews from that conference which I found quite interesting in terms of the competitive landscape, thoughts on Apple, market “lags”, approaches along with a demo of a prototype.
RIM Playbook at D: Dive Into Mobile – Interview with Mike Lazaridis Co-CEO of RIM
Palm Boss Jon Rubinstein Talks About Life at HP
Google's Andy Rubin with Motorola Tablet Prototype
This is going to be a quick post this morning because I will be away from my computer most of the day today.
Although “reads” is part of the title for this blog, I do plan to share video on topics of interest as well. I have been waiting to watch this interview from 60 Minutes with Mark Zuckerberg all week. It is included below just in case you missed it.
It covers everything: Facebook the company, its growth, the new layout, profile changes, search, privacy, Kara Swisher’s interviews, new products, the future, Google. Winklevoss twins, etc. Here is a quick overview of some of the numbers mentioned,
More than 500 million users in 70 languages around the world
200 million people access Facebook though mobile devices
FB is a global empire with the world’s largest population after China and India
This year people spent more time on Facebook than Google
200 employees (10%) are former employees of Google
Settlement with the Winklevoss twins was for $65 million
Many of this you may already know, but I still find it all quite interesting - especially to see it all together. It is incredible to see how this company and Mark Zuckerberg have grown. Just take a look at his past interviews or consider the number of users from January 2009 (150 million) compared to today (500 million) as reported in Facebook’s Press Room.
For marketers, this is a place full of opportunity. For some consumers, more relevant brand interactions are welcomed here and for others there are major privacy concerns. We will see how people respond or change their behavior within the FB environment over time as the company continues to update the platform and ask for more information from them.
Of course there will be additional influences outside of the Facebook environment as well. Especially when you consider the current redesign launched one day after the New York Times published an article titled WikiLeaks and the Perils of Oversharing. Then there other online privacy discussions and proposals such as the FTC's proposed privacy plan.
I would like to write some more on the talent shifts, but I will do that in the next post or two.
I have to run, so here are the 60 Minutes videos in two parts.
Once again, the Holidays snuck up on me this year. I should have paid more attention to the Christmas trees in the department stores and the reindeer costumes during Halloween. Then came Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Walla! Here I am at my desk sipping cocoa smack dab in the middle of Holiday gift giving season.
I know, I know, the title doesn't sound full of Holiday cheer and it made me laugh that this is what I would propose as a gift. But seriously, I would give or ask for this if you haven't read it already.
Although it was published in 1996, this book is incredibly relevant today. It stands out to me as one of the most powerful and memorable business books that I have ever read and one that I keep at my desk. It is not a kindle addition because this was before that love affair happened…lol. It is full of scribbled notes, bent pages, stars and underlines. And a couple of coffee ring stains give it that extra bit of charm.
We are indeed experiencing yet another pivotal shift and moving further along the inflection curve. Which way will we go? Andy Grove illustrates this in his book explaining this as a point in which our old strategic picture is dissolving and giving way to the new. This can be an opportunity for businesses to grow and “rise to new heights” or it can be the beginning to the end. Geesh, yes, I know.
I myself find this to be a very creative and exciting time. It is serious of course, yet full of promise for so many of us if we act now. In Chapter 8 he writes, “ Your tendency will almost always be to wait too long. Yet the consequences of being early are less onerous than the consequences of being late. If you act too early, chances are the momentum of your previous business is still stealthy. Therefore even if you're wrong, you’re in a better position to course correct.”
Take a look at this video. It is a discussion with Andrew Grove from in an interview with Charlie Rose in 1996 about the book. He is such a brilliant, forward thinking man.
I recommend this more than any book on the market right now – Take a look at the table of contents:
